Tibetan monks in ghoulish costumes perform during a ceremony to chase away the “demon king” to bring peace and happiness for the Tibetan New Year at the Yonghegong Lama Temple in Beijing, Sunday, February 19, 2023. The annual event has returned after China lifted all bans on public gatherings from the outbreak of COVID-19. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)

The Viking longboat burns during the annual Up Helly Aa festival in Lerwick, Shetland Islands, on January 28, 2014. Up Helly Aa celebrates the influence of the Scandinavian Vikings in the Shetland Islands and culminates with up to 1,000 “guizers” (men in costume) throwing flaming torches into their Viking longboat and setting it alight later in the evening. (Photo by Andy Buchanan/AFP Photo via Getty Images)

A performer removes a traditional eagle costume after performing “El Ball de l'Àliga” (Dance of the Eagle) during Saint Eulàlia fesitivities in Barcelona, Spain, Friday, February 11, 2022. After two years of canceled or muted celebrations due to the pandemic, this Mediterranean city went all-out to celebrate the feast, or “fest” in the Catalan language, of its patron. (Photo by Joan Mateu Parra/AP Photo)

Locals dress up as Mazcaras to celebrate Entroido on February 21, 2023 in A Xironda, Spain. Entroido is an ancient rural carnival celebrated in Galicia during the previous days of Ash Wednesday. Each town has its traditional characters and costumes. In the small village of A Xironda, locals dress up as Mazcaras with their characteristic masks, cowbells at the waist and whips, and then run through the streets. (Photo by Brais Seara Fernandez/Getty Images)

A woman dressed in Ukrainian national costume poses for a photograph in front destroyed Russian military equipment at Khreshchatyk street in Kyiv on August 20, 2022, that has been turned into an open-air military museum ahead of Ukraine's Independence Day on August 24, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP Photo)

Participants in costumes arrive at the Notting Hill Carnival in London, Britain, 29 August 2022. The Notting Hill Carnival is the largest street carnival in Europe and returned to London after two year break due to the coronavirus pandemic with more than a million people expected to attend the two-day celebration of Caribbean heritage on 28 and 29 August. (Photo by Tolga Akmen/EPA/EFE)

An opposition supporter wearing a costume lies on the ground in front of riot police during a rally against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government and to commemorate the 59th anniversary of the end of the dictatorship of Marcos Perez Jimenez in Caracas, Venezuela January 23, 2017. The sign reads “Venezuelans starve. There is no food or medicine. The underworld kills us. Get out Maduro”. (Photo by Marco Bello/Reuters)

Many people have seen feathers as decorative items before. Today, ostrich, peacock and bird of paradise feathers can be seen in haute couture and in the costumes of indigenous peoples. They can be colorful and spectacular in their own right, but how much more stunning might they be when used as canvases for artists, eager to demonstrate their talent for the unusual? Alaskan-born and -bred artist Julie Thompson is an astounding exponent of this incredible art form.